Hey

   Hey, so this week was ok. I wanna share with y'all a cool experience with prayer. So like yesterday me and E. Christian were wondering how we might be able to help our area and what we should do with the things that have happened lately. So he just stares at the area book and is like " i have no idea what to do" just very disheartened. So then i say "hey before we continue, lets pray" and then we say a prayer and like within a few minutes we have this awesome outline unfolded out and then we just start going through this awesome plan like all these new people we now have to contact and where to contact them and its nice and organized so we know where to look and what their names are. It was awesome. I actually have to like admit, this is the most excited ive been to be in this area and like get to work. Its awesome  and im so excited to work and start to really do some different work, like i feel itll really help a lot with how things are going right now, so its awesome. I was amazed at how quickly revelation flooded into our minds once we said that prayer. There was a remarkable difference in the way without praying as we planned and hen once we prayed, everything fell into place. It was sweet :) I really do love prayer. 

 Also, heres a sweet thing that happens here in the Philippines when it rains. There's like a low humming and then its kinda windy...then it turns into like a low sound of a jet or a rocket...then as the rain gets closer and closer to arriving...it gets louder and louder until you start to run because you know itll hit in like a few seconds. Its so cool. It literally sounds like a low sounding rocket. Its one of the coolest things. So theres good things happening :) And the work will be moving better now. 

Halong kamo (take care you all)

Elder Johnson 

Hey

Hey! 

So this week was conference and it was awesome!!! there were awesome talks. And thats way exciting about Pres. Monson's announcement of the new missionary ages. 18 for men and 19 for woman...like thats crazy!!! that is truly some new revelation that will change the work of the Lord...truly crazy. So when i heard that i thought "how close is the end?" and Elder Holland wasnt kidding when he said "In the next upcoming months to years we need 10s of 1000s of missionaries" The Lord truly does need missionaries...President Monson affirmed how important that is. The end really is near and the harvest is great, but there truly are so few. Some thing i really liked was what Elder Cook said. He said his dad stated that "God will hold a man accountable for every tear he causes to his wife"  This i have learned and know to be true. There was so many new things that were awesome and i was very enlightened by many things. So that was nice. This week was transfers and it came and went and it was actually much easier than the last and for some reason less stressful...but i have really been using my new choosing options and its way nice.  Not much has been happening here just that its been a pretty big blur and everything like just melts together here in the office. But we've given a baptism date and so thats exciting and way cool and we're excited for that :) Um i got my first package in the mission field which is awesome too :) Um sorry but not much has really happened, just normal normal stuff, but my new companion is Elder Christian who has about 9 months left. Hes my 8th companion here in the field...idk why but for reason God has given like more companions than most missionaries...including the MTC ive had 11...thats more than most missionaries in this mission. Most of the time by the time they're dont they have abut 10 -12...so its pretty weird but oh well..im not complaining im grateful for it because....im really benefiting from it :) So im just continuing to learn new things and progress in this language and also this batch of missionaries that left like made me really me really sad because i got pretty close to some of em and jsut knew many of them more than any other batch and so thats been kinda hard because it makes me think like how much little time i actually might have left here in the mission...i have 13 months left...but 11 months has already gone by this fast...like who knows...and i can still remember everything so vividly...but it just made me think when they left...like my batch, or the missionaries that came in to the field with me, is one of the oldest now in the mission which is crazy because we're supposed to be young still. So its way weird....but yah. So im sorry if its not more specific for you all back home but not much changes here to much in the Philippines. It either sunny and hot or rainy and hot..sometimes its cold when it rains...or sometimes its overcast and really hot...so it doesnt change too much. But im also getting to know my area a lot better and really being able to find my way around because thats like way hard in this area because its like being in a labyrinth just full of houses and narrow roads...but im getting it figured out. My confidence has also gone up a lot since ive been here in the office and so its nice too because i just feel like ive been changing so much and i just hope it continues :) 

I hope all is well with you and i do really miss the cold and the US sometimes. So be grateful for all your carpet, nice leather couches, nice clean streets and tables, and the never ending supply of food. Its way nice. Like ive gotten so used to having resturants say that they dont have a certain order of a food...like its crazy or like they ask you for change because they dont have any...it truly is a different world. But its good because im becoming who God wants me to be. So its all good...its just funny how used to it ive gotten. 

Elder Johnson        

Hey

Hey everyone, 

I cant say too much this week, however,  i will tell you that i am learning about about choices and just how easy it is to be happy no matter what happens to us. Every morning and through out the day, if we say todays gonna be a good day...no matter what happens to us..itll always be a good day. Its crazy. Ive been learning that i have the choice to decide what i will care about and what i wont. So i can choose to get stressed or not, i can choose  to get angry or not. I can choose if im choose to be happy or not. Its so simple, but yet i never really understood it. Its just crazy once that realization happens..like no joke. My life has been a lot happier lately and a lot less stressful in the office :) Um Im still not perfect and i still struggle but i have learned a lot about that. So choices are seriously given to us each and every day, like every second, from the moment we arise to the moment we go to bed. I never really understood how many simple, not even complicated decisions we get to make daily that i constantly over thought. Just like if today isnt turning out to be a good day...just say or think today is gonna be a good day and take a deep breath and its just awesome what happens :) Also, ive been out for 11 months now which is even crazier now because like next month is one year!!!! like what the heck?!! paano na? (hows that?) So yah. I hope you are all enjoying your autum right now and i hope its not too cold down in Washington...but its still pretty much hot here. Never really changes unless its raining, then it can get a little cold. Like no joke. But i cant talk to long right now because well...its really busy in the office right now. So this is really all for now. Hope your all doing good and thanks for all your prayers. 

Elder Johnson         

funny things

Hey Everyone,

Heres some funny things people have said about me here in my new area Molo 2 in the last 8 weeks.  

I have beautiful girl eyebrows, look like a wear eye shadow, i have some facial similarities to a macaque monkey, and if i were to grow my hair out i would look like a members sister. I also have the voice of a little kid and i dye my arm hair blonde lol. And apparently other missionaries have said i remind them of the south park character Butters lol. Dont know who that is but yah.  So its been interesting here...and just to joke with people here my companion says that yes every morning i dye my arm hair gold. lol Apparenlty people think id look better if i was a girl...like id look better in Filipino girl standards.. But just thught id share that with you all...also apparently because im white and american theres this lady we always pass who when she sees us she says "Hi daddy, hi daddy" and then says to her baby "daddy mo, daddy mo" (your daddy) and makes her baby's hand wave lol so apparently i have a baby.  So its been interesting :) Its been quite fun...to listen to all the things people say about me here. Also here are some other cultural facts about the Philippines.. some people point with their lips, and everyone puts rags down their backs to protect their back from sweat so they dont get pathsma (a sickness they believe in caused from the rain) and when the construction workers work in hot weather they cover their entire body except for their eyes so it looks kind of Arabic.

We found a lot of new people this week and so we're way excited because they all have such awesome potential and so we're excited to get started on that and so thats awesome to have all those new people. Also we have a really good family that is really starting to progress and grow. The dad is still not drinking and the other day we taught the first 5 ten commandments and then they had a few questions and one was...if the bible says to not have false idols or worship or build them..them why does the catholic church do that? and it was awesome because weve been struggling with her a little bit and so that question posed a little bit of hope for us to hopefully get her to progress more now. So that was awesome. Two people in the family said "we might just move to mormons!" because they liked how we said to rest on the Sabbath and just they liked everything we shared about the commandments :) so it was a great lesson and they are an awesome family :) Its going doo here :) damo nga sadja (lots of fun) :) 

Elder Johnson      

Hey

Hey everyone, 

Sorry i havent written in a while, i just now have some time. So not much has happened too much since Bednar came, Ive just really been busy here in the office...Like its been really rough for me. But its all good im taking it day by day. Um i guess ill share something that has happened here thats pretty cool with all of you. There is this cool family here called the Kandido's, and they are more catholic than the Pope in a way of putting it. However, we have been helping the husband quit his drinking problem and its been way sweet. The wife has been trying to get him to stop drinking for 15 years and yet hasn't. So finally we come along and we start teaching them and we invite brother daily to quit drinking. Like on the day he was sober, we committed him. We say "ok brother, you didnt drink today so can you go all day tomorrow without drinking?" and he said "Kaya" (i can) and so we've done that every day now since and its been 9 days now he hasnt drank and its been awesome. Hes come to church now twice with his son in law and so its way to see that hes not drinking. He has changed a lot too. Whenever he talks now, his speech is much clearer and you can actually understand him now, like its awesome. His wife is always mentioning how much more gwapo (handsome or attractive) hes gotten because hes stopped drinking and you can see how much happier they all are. Its been really cool to see. Everyone is more happy and open and Brother is really quite smart, like he answered all the questions in the investigator class and usually he would like beat around the bush when he answered questions and hed get take forever to get to the answer or hed miss it entirely. So we're seeing an awesome change in him. Its been awesome. Every day we try to at least visit the Kandido Family and follow up on brothers drinking and we re-challenge him again. And he always says "Kaya!" with a thumbs up. :) so its been awesome to see what thats been doing for him. Also, sister said that we're pushing it now, because hes been getting weaker as the withdrawals have been setting in, but we challenged him again yesterday. And we keep praying for him that he'll stay strong. So its been way sweet. 

 Also, lately ive been reading in the New Testament lately, i have a goal to finish it for the first time. And im really discovering that when Jesus tells people they are healed by faith. there is really a deeper meaning there. It seems to me like faith has two parts and those two parts together are what create our actual faith. Like the story of the woman with the blood disease, she says if she could just touch Jesus's robe she could be clean and so she reaches out and touches out and is healed. Then Jesus finds her and tells her according to her faith she is healed. So she had a belief that Christ could heal her, and then she acted on the belief. If she had just said that i just believe i can be healed so ill be healed. No she touched him and was healed. I thnk that is why Jesus told her she was healed by her faith. Also heres another exapmle, the man who was paralyzed who couldnt leave his bed. In Mark 2 it mentions how this man was unable to get inside the house because of the number of the people. So due to his belief in Christ and His healing power, he had a hole cut into his roof and goes down that way to be healed of Jesus. Mark mentions how Jesus was impressed with the mans faith and due to it he forgave his sins. Then he heals him. So this man couldve easily said or accepted the obstacle that was placed before him in having it be hard to get into that room and just said well i believe Christ can heal me of have him come to me and then ill be healed. But however he didnt, he made his own way to come to Christ and was healed by his faith, or the acting on his belief. So thats been pretty cool. Ive been learning a lot about that stuff in the Bible and it seriously is ALL over the Bible. These people according to their belief in Christ going to Him in whatever way they can and asking to be healed. Its pretty cool :) So i definitely have gained an eev bigger testimony of Faith without works is dead. And that the acts with our belief are what make our faith complete. So that was pretty cool and its way cool to see that in the Bible. I didnt know that was in the Bible :) 

So yah just taking it day by day here in the office. Its been tough but i am learning good stuff. 

Thanks for all of you who read this, Im sorry if they're not too detailed, i will try and do better. 

Elder Johnson :)                 

20 Years old!!!!!!!!!!!!

   HAPPY BDAY TO ME, HAPPY BDAY TO ME, HAPPYYY BDAY TO MEEEE, HAPPY BDAY TO ME  

    Hey everyone today is my birthday September 3 :) I turn 20..thats insane...i never thought this day would come...im like no longer a bata (child) its weird. 20. Viente. Crazy. But this week Elder Bednar came to Iloilo for the first time and spoke to us and the YSA here and so that was way sweet because i got to shake his hand and talk to him...like not just listen to a talk...but ask him personal questions and just have him speak to us...its awesome :) so awesome. Then he instructed us and i always like having apostles visit because they are different than when theyre not on the tv delivering us messages about Christ. Like they really like let you see their sense of humor and their personality as people not just apostles even though its very much intertwined...i feel you just get to see their personal personalities better so that was really cool for me. And just to get to ask him a question and having talk to me. I was very grateful for it because he didnt call on me for a while...but i didnt give up. I asked him about his conversion and so that was cool :) It was a very cool experience :) and of the many things that has increased on my mission..one has been my testimony of the living prophets and apostles today and that they really are called of God to help us and help in the work of the Kingdom of God. I also have a testimony of the 70 too. They are also called of God to do the same thing as the apostles...they all are called to truly help us and receive the revelation for our day and our personal every day lives. 

  I hope is well with everyone down there. Thanks for reading and your support for me and your prayers for me and my family. They are appreciated :) 

Elder Johnson         

hey

So this is my new area...imagine this.....its like the movie "The Labrynth" which is basically a maze of narrow roads with many, many houses and then a bunch of small twists and turns and even smaller alley ways. Sometimes you have a few normal sized roads but not too many. Then...i am also the supply manager which means i drive around and buy supplies for people, then i get mail, pick up people from the airport, drop people off and all that stuff. So its definatley a busy area, so it takes some getting used to. Its pretty demanding and you have no time for you...very unexpected schedule...so its kinda tough but itll stretch me, which is good :) so well see what happens...but thats pretty much it...just a crazy new area and being much business. 

I Hope youre all well. 

Elder Johnson